Snake and Badger
by BetaBadger
Summary: I must apologize to those who followed Snake and Badger, as I will not be able to continue the story. Therefore I am re-uploading this as a one-shot. Scorpius Malfoy encounters a certain red head during a visit to Hogsmeade. Rated T for mild bullying.


He moved closer to see what all the commotion was about. The group existed of Arnold, Keith, and several others, all wearing silver and green, all looking at the two people in the middle. The one standing was Cato, a boy from his own house, fifth year, the other person seemed to be a girl, at least according to clothing and hair... She was wearing a yellow woollen sweater that looked home made, a pair of loose pants, as white as the snow itself, brown boots, and a red scarf. The girl's red hair was so tangled up that it covered her face and shoulders, but she seemed to be crying. Her shoulders were shaking, and he could hear her sobbing, as the people around laughed at her. Scorpius took a couple more steps towards the group, when suddenly the girl sat up. Her hands, blue with cold, were trying to untangle the hair messy, and finally, Scorpius could see bits of her face. As she tried to get back up on her feet, Cato kicked her back down. "And there's for how ugly you are!" The others laughed again, as the girl's eyes filled with tears. She was laying on the ground again, shivering, and covered with snow, and again she sat up. But this time it was a little different, because this time, she looked directly at him. Her brown eyes captured his blue, and even though he wanted to look away, he just could not do it. He just kept staring, gazing into two deep ponds of melted chocolate. Scorpius could feel the hairs on his neck rise, and chills went through his body, but he did not look away. The girl looked terrified, but her eyes showed hope. _That silly girl, was she really expecting him to be her knight in shining armour?_ No way! A lot of those guys were way bigger then himself, and the end of it all would probably be a black eye, a nose bleed, and several other injuries. And of course, he would get it all over again when he returned to the common room. Actually, he'd be a lot better of if he only left. It would be easy, he'd just have to walk away, easy as pumpkin pie. So why couldn't he do it then? It was because of her! She kept staring into his eyes, nailing his feet to the ground. There was no way he would be able to break contact, but suddenly, she did, or rather, she was forced to. Cato kicked her over again, and she ended up on her back, her face covered with snow. And now he could hear it again, her sobbing. He had to do something! "Tell me, gentlemen, when did we Slytherins start taking pride in picking on little girls?" The sound of his voice sounded strange, even to him. The group turned towards him, and looked at him with cold, black, hateful eyes. "What's it t'you Malfoy? D'you care for this miserable, lil' girl?" The crowd started laughing. Scorpius hesitated for a moment, then he answered. "Not as much as I care about my house pride. Sure, we Slytherins are know as...well, bastards. We have never cared about any other house then our own, and we bully people for fun, but still... Anyone can kick a person who's already down. I am sure that your mother will be awfully proud to hear that you have been spending your days at Hogwarts, kicking the wheezies out of small girls, ey Cato?" The tall Slytherin boy forced his way through the crowd. "Ye' keep me mother out'a this Malfoy! Or maybe you want me to start with yours?" The words cut through him like a knife. "Get out'a my way, you blood traitor!" Cato spat and pushed Scorpius out of his way, and into the nearest snow pile. _Oh well, it could have gotten a lot worse._ He sat up and shook the snow out of his hair. The big group of Slytherins were headed towards the alley that led to The Hog's Head, and took no more notice of him, nor her. The poor girl was still laying on the ground, shaking with cold. Scorpius got to his feet, and walked over to her. "You all right?" he asked, kneeling down. She sat up, slowly, still tangled up in the mess of hair. "Here," he said, while doing his very best at trying to find her face inside the red bird's nest. "Th... Thank you..." she mumbled and shook her head, the sudden movement managed to finally uncover the girls face. Even though the girl herself was blue with cold, the area around her eyes were red, so were the eyes themselves. He was nowhere near certain, but the girl somewhat resembled the Potter girl, Al's brother, but she was still a first year, what the wand was she doing in Hogsmead? "That's what you get from sneaking out of the castle, you know..." he told her, only to give himself a mental kick for his stupidity. He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he had even gotten out a single syllable, she spoke again. "I d-didn't sneak out, honest!" Another shiver ran though her, her bare hands stroking each other in a desperate attempt to heat up. "It's almost uncle George's b-birthday, they said I could go as long as I stayed with James, but he ran of with his girlfriends, and then..." Another sob escaped her, but Scorpius could do anything but sit there and stare at her. "Uncle George tends to feel a little down on his b-birthday, because he misses his b-brother..." she mumbled, as she began drying her face with the sleeves of her sweater. It didn't really help much, but she managed a smile as she tried to get to her feet. Scorpius jumped up himself, but almost fell back down as the girl's legs gave in. He sighed, and after blowing his bangs out of his face, he placed on arm beneath the girls legs and another on her back, and scooped her up. "Come on," he said, smiling at her, "those guys just kicked the dungbombs out of you, you shouldn't be walking. Now where is this uncle of yours?" She was a bit heavier then he'd planned, not that he was particularity strong in the first place... She blinked in surprise, opened her, then closed it, just to open it another time. "He... He's at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." she told him, "he's working there over the weekend so that we could visit..." Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes? Scorpius gave a weak frown, fireworks and pranks... he didn't care much for either... Oh well, this seemed to be the day for un-doable things... The young Malfoy was close to shivering with cold himself, as he carried the Potter girl through the snow...


End file.
